CHICAGO – The great John Lennon would have been 70 years old on October 9th, but never got to expand upon the journey that started in a small British port town called Liverpool, where a young Lennon was shuffled from home-to-home between his Aunt Mimi and his mother Julia. Aaron Johnson plays the teenage rock icon in a crucial point in his life in the poignant “Nowhere Boy.”

CHICAGO – In this edition of the HollywoodChicago.com Hookup: DVD, two lucky winners will clean up with three DVDs from Magnolia Pictures for “Julia,” “Two Lovers” and “The Answer Man” plus a full-size poster for “I Am Love” signed by Oscar-winning star Tilda Swinton and an “I Am Love” soundtrack!

CHICAGO – Tilda Swinton, Oscar winner for “Michael Clayton,” gives the best female performance of the year to date in the riveting, thrilling, excellent “Julia,” now available on DVD and one of the best films of 2009 that you probably haven’t seen. The lack of special features on the Magnolia-produced DVD (and its lack of existence on Blu-Ray) is a bet of a let-down but the film is an underrated gem that should find a loyal audience on the home market.

Navigation

Free Giveaway Mailing

TV, DVD, BLU-RAY & THEATER REVIEWS

CHICAGO – Knock me over with a feather kids, but I enjoyed “Transformers: The Last Knight.” Maybe it was in comparison to the others or maybe director Michael Bay has beaten me into submission, but this one had the right story elements and casting to make it work, with exceptions of course. It’s goofiness is its charm, and it was released on Blu-Ray/DVD on September 26th, 2017 (Digital HD already available).

CHICAGO – There are few films in 2017 that are as historically important as they are cinematically well-crafted. Of those, there is only one I saw three times in theaters. That honor comes in the form of the revolutionary “Wonder Woman,” which not only shows huge promise for the future of DC Comics films but for comic book-based films as a whole.